Football Throwing Speed Experiment

What has an effect on football throwing speed?

Specific Question

Does the grade of a student affect the average throwing speed of a football?

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that the 7th grade have a greater average throwing speed than the 5th grade.

I think this is true because 7th graders are older and stronger. 7th graders can throw the ball a lot harder. Finally, I know from my experience that I can throw faster today than in 5th grade.

Graph of Hypothesis

Hypo Data

Variables

Independent Variable:

Grade level-
5th grade and 7th grade.

Dependent Variable:

The dependent variable is the speed of the football. It will be measured in MPH.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Radar gun, football, throwing target, battery, clipboard, directions given to students, # of times football's thrown,

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General Plan

Potential Problems And Solutions

Have adult supervision for working with car battery

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

radiation from radar gun can cause cancer,
don't hit any cars
don't slip in driveway

Experimental Design

This experiment was done to see if the 7th graders have a better average throwing speed than the 5th graders. Before doing the experiment, the supply’s needed were a radar gun, a car battery for the radar gun, a video camera to record, and a football for the kids so they could throw outside in the school parking lot. During the experiment, the radar gun was pointed at the throwing target, the snow bank, and the speed was calculated. After the date was collected,the combined scores were averaged out. In the experiment, It was being tested to see if the 7th graders could throw faster than the 5th graders.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
Radar Gun	1	Police	0
Football	1	recess rack	0
Car Battery	1	custodians	0
pencil	1	trapper keeper	0
paper	3	Mr. Yahna	0
clipboard	1	Mr. Yahna	0
Flip Camera	1	Mr. Yahna	0

Detailed Procedure

1. Set up a radar gun, data table, pencil, football, and car battery and video camera outside in the parking lot next the school.


2. Pick 10 5th graders and bring them outside.


3. Tell them that they are throwing the football at the snowbank across from them and wait for five seconds. They will then be instructed to throw the ball towards the snowbank in the parking lot.


4. Stand behind the thrower and record the speed of the throw with the radar gun.
5. I will have them throw the football two times each outside. Most of it will be recorded on a camera.


6. I will add up the combined scores of each student in miles per hour.


7. The 10 7th graders and bring THEM outside to the parking lot.


8.Tell them what their tasks are and what they need to do.Tell them to throw the ball towards the snowbank across from them.


9. I will be standing at home plate holding the radar gun to record the speed of the throws. Record the data on a spreadsheet.


10. The ball will be thrown two times each outside sometime.


11. I will add up the combined scores of each student. Them the materials will be put away.


12. I will then have the average for both grades.

13. I can then also calculate the difference between the 5th grade average and 7th grade average by subtracting both averages.

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Data Table

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Data Analysis

Graphs

Photos

5th grader Throws Football

Results

The average throwing speed of the football for 5th graders was 22.3 mph. The 7th graders threw an average throwing speed of 28.2 mph. The highest average for a 5th grade student was 29.5 mph. The highest average throwing speed for a 7th grader was 35 mph. The lowest average throwing speed for a 5th grader was 14 mph. The lowest average throwing speed for the 7th graders was 25 mph. The 7th graders had a greater average throwing speed.

Conclusion

An experiment was done to see if the 7th graders had a better class average football throwing speed than the 5th graders. The results showed that the 7th graders had a higher average than the 5th graders. The average throwing speed for the 7th graders was 28.2 mph. The 5th graders had an average throwing speed of 22.3 mph.

Discussion

The experiment question was does the grade of a student affect the average throwing speed of a football? The experiment results did answer the question. The answer to the experiment was that the 7th grade's average speed in throwing a football was greater than the 5th grader. The hypothesis within the experiment was that the 7th grade had a greater average throwing speed than the 5th graders. The hypothesis was supported by the results and answers to the experiment question.
The 7th grade had a average class speed of 28.2 mph, while the 5th grade had a class average of 22.3 mph. 5th grader #3 had the highest average throwing speed with 29.5 mph, while 7th grader #10 held the fastest speed with 35 mph. There really isn’t a pattern shown within the data.The data was inconsistent between all 20 students. The end results happened because the 7th graders are bigger, faster, and stronger. The results from the experiment are the same as other experiments about kids throwing baseballs. They both demonstrate that older kids can throw harder than younger kids.
There was one problem in this experiment of testing, which was trying to get the right materials outside. There was nothing really that could have been done differently. The technology that was needed for the experiment were the radar gun and car battery. It was important to not point the radar gun at people because the radiation from the radar gun can lead to cancer.
This experiment wouldn't have any impact on society because it was just a normal science experiment. In theory football coaches could use it in determining the depth chart for their quarterbacks and who to start. The experiment did not have any breakthrough on information on technology whatsoever. A experiment based on this could better see if the 7th graders have a better baseball throwing speed than the 5th graders.

Background Research

What Are Average Youth Baseball Pitching Speeds For Pitchers Age 10+?

1. Location
2. Movement
3. Velocity



At 70+ mph would be good.
At 75+ mph would be very good (and probably a ticket to the sophomore or JV team.
At 80+ would be exceptional (and a ticket to the varsity at most schools).

55-70, I'm a little older than you and that's what I throw and that's what most middle school ballplayers that I know throw.

One kid gave advice by saying not to throw too hard so your arm doesn’t go out.


One kid found a team average throwing speed of 51 mph.

A couple kids from the San Diego Stars little league team threw from 62-68 mph.

The average baseball throwing speed for a 14 year old is low sixties.

If you are 6 feet 180 lbs, baseball throwing speed is expected to be low seventies.

References

Works Cited
"Average Pitching Speed for a 13.75 Year Old?" Yahoo! Answers -. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.
"Pitching Speed of 12 Year Olds. - Youth Baseball Knowledge Base." Pitching Speed of 12 Year Olds. - Youth Baseball Knowledge Base. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.
"What Are Average Youth Baseball Pitching Speeds For Pitchers Age 10 ?" What Are Average Youth Baseball Pitching Speeds For Pitchers Age 10 ? N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.
"What Is the Average Fastball Speed for a 14 Year Old Boy?" WikiAnswers. Answers, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

Abstract

The purpose of the experiment was to see if the grade of a student affected the average throwing speed of a football. It was hypothesized that the 7th grade would have a greater average throwing speed than the 5th grade. Using a youth sized football, the 20 subjects in the experiment threw the football. The average speeds of each student throwing the football were measured with a radar gun. The data did support the hypothesis. The 7th grade had a greater average throwing speed with an average of 28.2 mph compared to that of the 5th grade which was 22.3 mph.